World War II had ended. Europe and Japan were in ruins. The United States was the industrial center of the world. America was generous, smart and created the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe to prevent another Hitler from emerging from the ashes.
The Soviet Union started the Berlin blockade in 1948 and it was too big a challenge to be tolerated by England, France and US. Our airlift discovered a peaceful solution to a dangerous situation.
In the 1950’s the Soviet Union tried to use the “Salami game” to get what they wanted. No, it is not the current sexual definition. The Soviets would try to cut off a bit of access to territory, but not enough for the Allies to fight over. Allowed to go indefinitely, they would get most of what they wanted. In the early 2000’s the Peoples Republic of China started their own game in the South China Sea
In the 1950’s we had the “Red Scare” with McCarthyism. Senator McCarthy said he knew the names of communists inside of our federal government who were destroying our country and preventing truth from being discovered.
Sounds like the “Deep State” that Trumplicans talk about. The Red Scare and the Deep State were stories created by a politician wanting to be the Savior of America, shouting, “Only I have the knowledge to save us. Don’t ask for evidence, that shows that you are one of them.”
During World War II the Vietnamese asked the United State for arms to defeat the Japanese invasion of Vietnam (then part of French Indo-China). We refused to help because the Vietnamese were nationalists who wanted to throw out both the Japanese and the French. After the war we continued to ignore Vietnamese requests because now they were fighting the French colonialists, a US ally. The Vietnamese turned to the Soviet Union and Red China for weapons to expel the French. The US government believed that if you accepted Communist weapons that made you a Communist. The US aided the French, but the French lost big time.
The early 1960’s was a time of terror for many Americans with the start of our Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement in the South, women screeching about equality and the 1965 immigration law that allowed non-white immigrants into America. On top of all that, armed Black Panthers invaded the California legislature and caused Governor Reagan to pass significant gun control measures. The Black Panther legislature appearance helped change the NRA from a firearm safety organization into a white man’s protection association, selling lots of guns in the process.
The 60’s and 70’s ushered in many unwanted changes from the 1950’s when we were king of the mountain. America was defined as a white, Christian nation, but what made America unique was not race, religion or power, but a common belief in the rule of law not persons.
FOX News has convinced many Americans to become Trumplicans, fearful of change, owners of AR-15’s for protection from the Deep State, any non-white foreigners and rational thought.
Improved imaging captured the Trumplican view of reality.
Thanks for taking a walk with me.